I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for assisting the attachment of a trailer having a hitch socket to the rear of a vehicle having a hitch pin.
II. Description of Related Art
Many automotive vehicles are used as towing vehicles to tow trailers of one sort or another. For example, such towing vehicles often tow boat trailers as well as cargo trailers.
Conventionally, these previously known towing vehicles are provided with a hitch pin mounted to the rear of the vehicle and usually aligned with the center line of the vehicle. The hitch pin may assume any of several shapes, but commonly is in the shape of a ball.
The towed trailer includes a hitch socket at the front end of the trailer. This hitch socket is complementary in shape to the hitch pin. Consequently, for a spherical hitch pin, the socket will also be spherical in shape.
In order to attach the trailer to the towing vehicle, it is necessary that the hitch pin be inserted into the hitch socket. This is difficult to achieve since the operator of the automotive vehicle typically cannot see either the hitch pin or the hitch socket when attempting to align the hitch pin and hitch socket together. Often a second person outside the motor vehicle provides instructions to the operator of the vehicle in an attempt to align the hitch pin with the hitch socket. Even with a person outside the car directing the operator of the vehicle, often several different attempts are required before the proper alignment of the hitch pin and hitch socket is achieved.
In order to facilitate the attachment of a trailer to a towing vehicle, there have been a number of previously known systems which provide assistance to the operator of the vehicle. Many of these previously known systems, furthermore, provide an optical image of the hitch to the operator of the vehicle as well as driving instructions to the operator of the vehicle to facilitate the proper alignment of the hitch pin with the hitch socket. In some of these previously known systems, a preferred path of travel of the vehicle hitch pin toward the hitch socket is also displayed on the video screen so that the driver can steer the vehicle in an attempt to keep the hitch pin on the preferred path of travel.
Despite the visual assistance provided by these previously known systems to the operator of the vehicle, many operators of the vehicle are unable to carefully maintain the hitch pin along the preferred path of travel. This inability is due in large part to the fact that the vehicle is steered in the reverse direction. Such steering of the vehicle during rearward travel is difficult for many drivers to perform accurately.
Consequently, during a hitching operation even with these visually assisted previously known systems, many drivers tend to veer from the preferred path of travel of the hitch pin toward the hitch socket. When this occurs, the driver of the vehicle oftentimes over steers the vehicle in an attempt to correct the position of the hitch pin and return it to the preferred path of travel. This, however, oftentimes results in overshooting the preferred path of travel to such a degree that it is necessary to drive the automotive vehicle forwardly and restart the hitching operation.